2 questions

my singing style changes depending on the song, i barely ever even sound like the same person singing, and sometimes people really like it, and other times i apparently suck, and im cool with sucking occassionally but my problem is, in my own head, it always sounds okay to me, and i'd like to at least hear how ridiculous i sound ya know? is it normal for you to sound different to yourself than to others? i would think so because a friend of mine recently found out how homo his voice sounds from a recording (coincidentally, he is literally gay), and another singer i know told me she used to have the same problem before she decided to only scream and never again use clean vocals (she's made worse choices before...). can you guys help me with this problem? and i cant afford lessons and i dont have time for them either so please don't suggest that...

and also, should i always know what notes exactly im singing? i mean sometimes i might just be some interval off of what note im trying to sing, do you think figuring out the actual notes like on a keyboard would help? the reason i think it might not is because i might just be totally off whether or not i notice it even with the vocal melody being played on a keyboard and that really wouldn't be worth the time of figuring out every vocal part to my songs on a keyboard, but then again it could help cuz i sang these mars volta songs after seeing piano covers of them on youtube and i sounded better than i used to singing along to their albums.

The tone of your voice will always sound different to you than it does to others. The best way to tell how you sound is definitely to record yourself. If you don't like what you hear you can always work on it.

As far as the notes...Definately practice with a keyboard. Find your range and play random notes and try to match them. Also you can work on stretching your range like this. This is called ear training and is an invaluable skill.

The way I developed my singing was just lock myself in the room, turn up the volume high to the point my voice is equally as loud as the singer in the track and sing any song I know and feel like singing. I figured the way to know the tuning is if you're hearing the vocalist over or under your singing voice. If neither, you're on the money!

I hope you've heard yourself sing before - the first time you hear yourself is always a bit of a shock. It's better that you get it out of the way early, rather than hearing it through a foldback for the first time on stage.

i dont have a cell phone anymore, my computer sucks, and i have no camera :/ but i was at a jam session today and we recorded a song with our guitarist's ipod, and i was actually very pleasantly surprised!! i thought i was gonna sound like i was trying way too hard to sound like matt embree or anthony green and totally failing, but i listened and i was like "woah, i dont know who that is singing but i'd throw my panties on that stage" lmao